# Date: 1905

LENINIST COLLECTION
"A Congress of workers or a congress of mutual aid societies?
A Congress of representatives of the working class or a congress of guild members?
To utilize—yes... But for whom—the R.S.D.R.P.?
See article by L. Martov (unsigned) "Liberal Treacheries" in no. 111 of *Iskra* from October 7 (September 24), 1905.
The so-called "All-Zemstvo" organization decided to conduct relief work for the starving jointly with the bureaucratic "Red Cross."
3 See Collection *Iskra for 2 Years*, p. 613. Liberal professors spoke out in favor of closing access to workers at university building rallies.
4 In Martov's article "Liberal Treacheries" we read: "Those are mistaken, of course, who, like *Proletarii* or the *Son of the Fatherland*, attempt to portray the 'Regulation of August 6' as a victory of the moderate bourgeoisie over the people, as a result of a deal between it and absolutism. In reality, it is precisely the moderate bourgeoisie that was defeated on August 6, to which the autocracy refused even minimum political concessions. But it is true that the August 6 decree, in connection with the cessation of war, created a new political situation, pushing the radical elements of society toward more active tactics, and its moderate elements—toward the realization of their inherent capacities for premature treacheries." *Iskra* No. 111. Collection *Iskra for 2 Years*, pp. 617–618.
5 *Socialdemokrat* No. 15 from October 13 (September 30), 1905. An editorial note to the article "The Law of August 6, 1905." The Editorial Board, on the one hand, solidarizes with the tactical line of Axelrod ("The People's Duma and the Workers' Congress"), on the other, stipulates its disagreement with the article of the Kharkov correspondent, who obscured the s.-d. program and deviated mainly into a trade-unionist understanding of workers' politics.
6 "The Congress of Workers"—leading article in the same No. 15 of *Socialdemokrat*. At the beginning of the article it is reported that "in December, at the initiative of the 'Kharkov Society of Mutual Aid for Persons Engaged in Craft Labor,' a congress of representatives of various workers' societies will take place." The entire article has a distinctly guild character.
In Lenin's note "Liberal Hopes for the Duma," use was made of a correspondence from Petersburg dated 4 (October 4), printed in No. 295 of the *Frankfurter Zeitung* (morning edition) from October 22 (9), 1905 under the heading: "Die Wahlbewegung in Russland" ("The Electoral Movement in Russia").

# LIBERAL HOPES FOR THE DUMA

LIBERAL HOPES FOR THE DUMA.
[After October 22, 1905. Geneva.]

The Liberals are striving to instill optimism in the public about the composition of the Duma. A correspondent of the Frankfurt Gazette (No. 293, Morning Edition) from Petersburg of October 14 [old style]: "An examination of the results of the preparatory meetings for elections now taking place leads to the conclusion that the composition of the Duma will be far from as bad as it seemed at first. Even now one can predict with a certain degree of probability that the properly conservative element will scarcely constitute half of the Duma. The greatest chances of being elected belong to moderate Liberals and Liberals, while the chances of radicals are considerably less favorable, although they too can be called comparatively good from the point of view of that pessimism with which the radicals regarded the future back in August. It can scarcely be doubted that the radicals will be represented in the Duma not too weakly. The question is only how far they will succeed in taking into their wake (ins Schleppttau nehmen) the Liberals and moderate Liberals, for only in the event that these three elements come forward in a unified manner against the conservative core will a Constituent Assembly be assured."

The radicals, this is—undoubtedly the Cadets. Their candidates in Petersburg—Nabokov, Kedrin, Vinaver. The "moderate Liberals" are not defined by the correspondent in any precise manner, but among the candidates named are Fedorov (properly a conservative, "but Liberals could also support him"!) and Nikitin (a candidate of the Right and at the same time a candidate of the moderately-Liberal camp).

Thus, a Constituent Assembly is "assured" provided that both Liberals and moderate Liberals submit themselves to the leadership of the "radical" Liberationists... Words fail! So it is that the Liberal optimists are truly grasping at straws. Most curious of all, however, is their blindness in the respect that even with the vote of a majority of the Duma in favor of a Constituent Assembly, this latter is not "assured" in reality, but only a decisive revolutionary struggle for it is assured. The gentlemen Cadets want to have it both ways: to suck on both teats—the autocratic (legal opposition in a legal Duma) and the revolutionary ("we plowed the field" in the interest of a Constituent Assembly).